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W. K. HOWE. CONTACT SHOE FOR AUTOMATIC TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JUL-Y 24. IQIG.

Patented July 1, 1919.

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BY I K ATTORNEY THE COLUMBIA PLANuunAvh 10., WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTC WIN'IHROP K. HOWE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 GENERAL RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY, OF GATES, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CONTACT-SHOE FOR AUTOMATIC TRAIN-CONTROL SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1, 1919.

(lriginal application filed July 6, 1915,5eria1 No. 38,132. Divided and this application filed July 24, 1916.

Serial No. 110,948.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, VINTHROP K. TIOWE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Contact-Shoe for Automatic Train-Control Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to contact shoes used in automatic train control systems.

This application is a division of my prior application Serial No. 38,132, filed July 6, 1915.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to devise asimple and inexpensive contact shoe for automatic train control systems which will act as a means for obtaining electrical contact with suitable contact rails or ramps, and which will also act as a circuit controlling device upon engagement with a ramp. i

A further object of the invention is to devise a simple contact shoe which is arranged and constructed so that provision is made for the movement of the vehicle carrying the shoeboth with and against the normal direction of trafiic.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description of the invention progrosses, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference is had to the accompanying drawing, wherein I have illustrated a preferred physical embodiment of my invention, and wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a contact.

shoe embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the contact shoe shown in Fig. 1, with certain parts partly broken away; and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line 3&3 in Fig. 2 and looking downward in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Referring to the accompanying drawing,

the contact shoe is designed to be supported in any suitable way, preferably adjustably, on some part of a railway vehicle, as on a journal box, axle, truck, side frame or the like; and for this purpose the shoe is fastened to a bar 36 of wood or other insulating material, so that the shoe as a whole is electrically isolated from the vehicle which carries it. The shoe comprises a main oasting or body portion 41 which is provided at its upper end with walls forming a boX like casing A, which is used to house and protect the circuit controlling devices operated by the movements of the shoe, said casing A being provided with a cover 64 which makes a weather tight joint with the edges of the walls forming said casing and which is held in place by suitable screws or clamps (not shown). The body portion ll of the shoe is provided with spaced ears or lugs 4A adapted to straddle the bar 36; and a washer or clip 45 having lugs corresponding to the lugs 4:4: is disposed on the opposite side of the bar 36 and is clamped thereto 1 by bolts 4E6. In the body portion 41 of the shoe is a vertical circular hole in which is journaled a turning stud 47 which has an enlarged head at its lower end and which is provided with a collar 48 at its upper end, said collar being pinned to said turning stud and serving to hold it in place. A support ing arm 42 is bifurcated at onesend and straddles the lower enlarged head of the turning stud 47; and a hinge pin 49 pivotally connects said supporting arm and said turning stud. The foot 43 of the shoe, that is, the portion of the shoe which actually contacts with the ramps, is disk-like in form, and is provided with a central bearing stud 50 mounted in anti-friction bushings 50 supported in the supporting arm 42 near the outer end thereof so that the foot 43 can rotate freely, a nut 51 serving to hold said foot 4-3 in place. Extending downwardly from the body portion 11 of the contact shoe is a hollow post 52 through which passes a plunger 53. A collar 54: is pinned to the upper end of the plunger 53 and limits the downward movement thereof, and a lateral finger 55 is secured to the lower end of said plunger 53. A curved guide 56, which is substantially Z-shaped in cross section, is fastened to the upper face of the supporting arm 42 in position to engage the finger 55 on the plunger 53. encircles the plunger 53 within the post 52 A compression coil spring 57 and bears at its upper end against the bottom of the post 52 and at its lower end against the enlarged shank of the lateral projecting finger 55, so that said plunger 52 is pressed downward.

In the casing A in the upper part of the shoe is fixed a block 58 of insulating material to which are secured two contact springs 59 arranged to coeperate with a contact disk 60 fixed to the upper end of the plunger 53 but insulated therefrom. To the upper end of the turning stud 47 is fixed a cylindrical piece of insulating material to which is fastened a contact strip or block6l; and fastened to the insulating block 58 are two contactsprings 62 and 63 arranged to make electrical contactwith the contact block 61 when the turning stud 47 is turned to a cer- 'tain position. The wires connected to these contact springs are not shown but are preferably connected-to a plug coupling 66 from whence they extend in the form of a cable 18 to any point desired.

The ramps or contact rails which are used in connection with the contact shoe shown and hereinbefore described are of any well known or suitable construction and are arranged parallel with the track rails over which the vehicle passes, the end portions of said ramps being curved downward gradually so as to enable the foot 43 of the contact shoe to pass over a ramp without severe shock. The normal directlon of movement of the vehicle carrying the shoe is indi cated by the arrow B in Fig. 1, the insulating bar 36 being substantially parallel with the track rails. The ramps are positioned with reference to the track rails so as to engage the foot 43 ofthe contact shoe at or near the axis upon which said foot may rotate, and the upper edge of each ramp is so located with reference to the track rails that an upward movement of the foot 43 of the contact shoe and a consequent vertical rocking movement of the supporting arm 42 will be caused when the foot 43-engages a ramp. When the supporting arm 42 of the contact shoe is rocked upward by engagement with a ramp the plunger 53 is also moved upward against the opposition of the spring 57 so as to move the contact disk 60 out of electrical contact with the contact springs 59, thereby interupting any suitable controlling circuit for the train control apparatus including said contact disk and said contact springs. Then the contact shoe leaves'engagement with a ramp the spring 57 forces the plunger 53 downward-and with it the supporting arm 42 so as to restore the parts to the normal position shown in Fig. 2.

From the'foregoingit is apparent that the contact shoe embodying this invention not only operates to establish an electrical connection with a ramp but also opens a normally closed circuit controller upon engagement of the contact shoe with a ramp and holds said circuit controller open so long as this engagement continues.

In practice it is found desirable to make provision whereby a vehicle may travel in a direction opposite to the normal direction of traffic and in so doing will not be governed by its automatic train control apparatus, and according to this invention it is contemplated that such provision is made by the operation of the contact shoe itself. Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the normal direction of traflic is indicated by the arrow B, and when a contact shoe on a vehicle traveling in the normal direction of trailic engages a ramp the supporting arm 42 and the foot 43 of that contact shoe are moved automatically to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 by reason of the friction between the foot 43 and the ramp. This movement of the supporting arm 42 and the foot 43 is permitted by the turning of the stud 47 in the body portion 41 of the shoe; and by reason of the shape of the guide 56, the finger 55 remains in engagement with said guide 56 without interfering with this movement. When the vehicle carrvina the contact; shoe shown in Fig. 1 travels in the direction opposite to the normal direction of traflic indicated by the arrow B, however l and the foot 43 of said contact shoe engages a ramp, the friction between said foot and said ramp causes said foot and the supporting arm 42 to move backward relatively to the direction of movement of the vehicle into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1; and in this position of the parts the contact block 61 carried by the turning stud 47 is brought into electrical contact with the contact springs 62 and 63. Consequently, when the vehicle is traveling against the normal direction of tame, the engagement of its contact shoe with a ramp results in the opening of one circuit controller and the closing of another circuit controller; and according to the arrangement of controlling circuits for which the contact shoe embodying this invention is designed it is contemplated that the circuits controlling the automatic train control apparatus on the vehicle will be arranged in parallel, so that the opening of one circuit controller and the closing of the other circuit controller will produce no controlling effect upon this train control apparatus. 7

As pointed out hereinbefore the ramps are preferably positioned with reference to the track rails so as to engage the foot 43 of the shoe near the axis upon which it may turn, and the sidewise sway of the vehicle, which is bound to occur, together with deviations in the precise location of the ramps with reference to the track rails, results in the line of contact between the foot 43 of the contact shoe and a ramp being for the greater part of the time on one side or the other of the axis upon which said foot may rotate, so that as thefoot 43 is drawn along the ramp by the movement of the vehicle, the foot L3 is rotated with a scraping and rubbing action which serves to. clean the contact surface of the ramp and thereby e11- able an eflicient electrical contact to be ob tained.

Although I have particularly described the construction of one physical embodiment of my invention, and explained the operation and principle thereof; nevertheless, I desire to have it understood that the form selected is merely illustrative, but does not exhaust the possible physical embodiments of the idea of means underlying my invention. i

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a supporting arm resiliently pressed downward, and a foot revolubly mounted in said arm to turn on a vertical axis, said foot being adapted to engage a horizontal contact surface on a ramp and to be turned thereby so as to scrap said contact surface.

2. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a body portion, a supporting arm connected to said body portion to move in a vertical plane, means yieldingly holding said arm in a predetermined lower position, and a foot revolubly mounted in said arm to turn on a vertical axis, whereby the supporting arm is raised by the engagement of the foot with the inclineol contact surface of the ramp and the foot is turned at the same time in the plane of the contact surface so as to scrap it.

3. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a body portion, a supporting arm connected to said body portion to move in either of two directions, cir cuit controllers selectively operated by the movement of said supporting arm, and a foot revolubly mounted in said arm to turn on a vertical axis.

4. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a body portion, contacting means carried thereby and adapted to be displaced in either of two directions, and separate circuit controlling devices selectively operated by the displacement of said contacting means in said directions.

5. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a bar of insulating material, a metallic body portion provided with jaws straddling said bar and bearing against the top and bottom faces thereof so as to support the shoe against vertical movement, bolts passing through the bar and the body portion for clamping the shoe to the bar, a contacting arm carried by said body portion and arranged to move vertically, and

circuit controlling means operated by said arm.

6. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a member capable of movement in either of two angularly disposed planes, and circuit controlling means controlled selectivel by the respective movements of said mem er.

7 A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a supporting arm mounted to swing horizontally and to rock vertically, and circuit controlling means operated selectively by the swinging and rock ing movements of said arm.

8. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems, comprising a support of insulating material, a supporting arm connected to said support to swing either horizontally or vertically, and a foot of electrically conducting material revolubly mounted in said supporting arm.

9. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a turning stud mounted to swing on a vertical axis, a sup porting arm pivotally connected to said stud on a horizontal axis, a plunger arranged in the path of vertical movement of said supporting arm and a normally closed circuit controller operated by said plunger.

10. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a supporting arm mounted to move in either of two directions, a circuit controlling device opened by the movement of said arm in one direction and another circuit controlling device closed by movement of said arm in the other direction.

11. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a member mounted to rock vertically and swing horizontally, circuit controlling means operated selectively by the rocking and swinging movements of said member, and means for restoring said member to its normal position.

12. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a support, a turning stud swiveled in said support to turn on a vertical axis, an arm pivotally connected to said stud on a horizontal axis, a plunger having a laterally projecting finger, a guide secured to said arm and cooperating with the finger of said plunger, contacts carried by said support, means operated by said stud for closing one pair of contacts when said arm is swung in a horizontal planein one direction, and means operated by said plunger for opening another normally closed pair of contacts when said arm is raised.

13. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a body portion, a member carried by said body portion to turn on a vertical axis, an arm carried by said member and arranged to swing vertically, means yieldingly holding said arm in a predetermined lower position, a circuit controlling device operated by the vertical movement of said arm, and another circuit controlling device operated by the partial rotation of said member in one direction.

14. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a vertically movable arm, resilient means tending to hold said arm in a predetermined lower position, a circular foot having an upstanding bearing stud journaled on a vertical axis in the outer end of said arm, said foot being ar ranged to be rotated by its engagement with a ramp to scrape the contact surface thereof, and circuit controlling means operated by said arm.

15. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising an arm hinged at its inner end to swing in a vertical plane,

a plunger spring-pressed downward and op eratively connected to said arm between its ends, and circuit controlling means operated by the movement of said plunger.

16. A contact shoe for automatic train control systems comprising a vertically movable arm, means yieldingly holding said arm in a predetermined lower position, and a removable contacting foot rotatably carried by one end of said arm and arranged to engage a ramp, the axis of rotation of said foot being disposed at right angles to the plane of the contact surface of the ramp, whereby the foot is rotated by engagement with the ramp and acts to scrape the contact surface thereof.

VVINTHROP K. HOWE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

